Staple fiber cutter



Patented Jan. 25, 1944 STAPLE FIBER CUTTER Carl A. Castellan,Wilmington, DeL, assignor to American Viscose Corporation, Wilmington,DeL, a corporation of Delaware Application October 22, 1942, Serial No.462,912-

8 Claims. (01. 164-61) This invention relates to cutting devicesparticularly adapted to cut staple fibers from tows v or ropes ofcontinuous filamentary material, such as of rayon or other artificialfilaments. It is concerned with cutters in which the filamentary tow isfed transverse of a cutting plane or shearing surface, such asibypassage through a suitable opening in a member, hereinafter genericallyreferred to as a shear member" or shear plate," adapted to support thetow in, or bring the tow into, cutting relationship with the knife andin which there is continuous relativemotion between the shear member andthe knife. Cutters of this character are illustrated in Beria Patent1,723,998 and Blaschke 2,182,193.

- 8 is secured and a second upstanding ear l2 which is adapted to abutagainst a bolt l3 ading an upper bearing 6 provided with an arm 1adapted to support the knife 8 (the other bearings not being shown). Theknife 8 is pivotally supported by an upright pin 9 upon .the arm I. Theknife supporting block 10 is provided with an upstanding member ll uponwhichthe knife justably fastened in an upright projection M from the arm1.. A spring fastened to the upright projection M at one end and to apin or hook l6 secured upon the knife support at the other end tends toswing the knife support in in a counterclockwise direction( as viewed inFi In'such cutters, the ,knife bears constantly against the shear membereven whennot actually cutting. It is an object of,this invention toremove the knife from contaiit with the shear member during most of thenon-cutting portion of each cycle of relative movement between the knifeand shear member so that a proportional decrease in the wear of theknives and in the power consumption needed to drive the movable memberof the cutter may be obtained. The re.- sulting economies are, ofcourse, especially; important when operation is desired at high speedsof the movable member of the cutter.

In the drawing, illustrative of' the-invention,

. Figure 1 shows a plan viewof one embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the embodiment of Figure 1,

Figure '3 is an elevation of a second embodiment of the invention, I,

Figure 4 is a plan view of a third embodiment of the invention,

Figure 5 is an elevational view of the embodiment of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is an elevation partially in crosssection, showing anotherembodiment of the invention.

The embodiments of Figures 1 to 5 illustrate three modifications of theinvention adapted to the type of cutter shown inthe Beria patent citedabove while Figure 6 shows a modification adapted to the type of cuttershown in the Blaschke patent-cited above.

In Figures 1 and 2, the shear member is represented as the disk 2 whichis provided with an axial channel 3 communicating with a radial channel4 for receiving the tow into the central portion of the disk and feedingit radially outward therefrom. The disk 2 is mounted for rotation uponthe shaft 5 within suitable bearings includlengths depending on theknife spacings about ure 1) so that the ear 12 upon the knife support l0tendsto approach the adjustable bolt l3. The knife support I0 is alsoprovided with a cam follower such as a roller suitably pivoted thereon,which is adapted to cooperate with a cam rim it formed integrally withthe disk 2' attached thereto. The cam rim- I8 is provided with a dwellor a cut-away portion l9 so thatalong this portion of therotationalcycle of the disk, the cam follower is freed and the knife iscaused by spring I5 to approach and make contact with the externalperiphery or shear surface of the'disk or shear member when the radialchannel 4 presenting the filamentary tow is almost in cutting position.Shortly after cutting, the cam surface of rim l8 forces the follower l1and knife ll) outsition is attained.

- Although only one knife is shown cooperating with thedisk of Figures 1and 2, a plurality of knives may be employedand they may be disposed atequal distances about the periphery of the disk 2 or at unequeldistances to obtain in the former case staple fibers of substantiallyuniform length and in the latter case of various the disk. When morethan one'knife is employed,

- each knife may be supplied with a follower to cooperate with the camrim upon the disk in a maner analogous to that of the knife shown inFigures 1 and 2. Where the knives are spaced at equal distances aboutthe periphery of the disk, the cam surface may be-so'constructed thatduring operation, at least one of the knives is in contact withtheperipheral surface of the disk throughout each revolution thereof.Thus, if fou'r knives were provided about the disk, the cam may beprovided with a dwell or cut-away portion such that each knife is incontact with the periphery of the disk during one-fourth of itsrevolution.

In that way, fluctuation in the speed of rotation of the disk during agiven revolution may be substantially eliminated and the wear in each ofthe knives is equalized. Besides reducing the wear of each knife toonefourth of what it would be if all of them were allowed to stay incontact with the periphery of the disk throughout each revolution duringoperation, the power consumed in driving the disk is consider: ablyreduced. Where the knives are spaced at unequal distances about thedisk, additional cam rimsmay be provided offset in parallel horizontalplanes from the plane of the cam rim of Figure 2 and each knife may beprovided with a follower adapted to cooperate with only one of theseveral cams. In this way, by correlating the various spaces between theknives with the length of the dwell in each of theseveral cams, one ofthe knives may be made to remain in contact with the periphery of thedisk until the next makes contact with it and so on so that the wearupon the knives will be more equally distributed among them andfluctuation of speed will be minimized. v a

Figure 3 shows a modification in which the pivotal action of the knifesupport is substituted by a reciprocatory action. In this embodiment,the knife support II! is provided with a base having slots 2| extendingradially from the axis of the disk 2. These slots serve'as guideways forbolts or pins 22 secured in the arm 1 supporting the knife support 10. Aspring 23- having one end attached to the upper bearing 6 and the otherend attached to the knife support l0 tends to press the knife support Itwith the knife 3 toward the disk 2 and an abutment 24 extending abovethe arm 1 serves as a limiting stop for this motion. If desired, theabutment 24 maybe attached adjustably to the arm I. As in the precedingembodiment, a follower I1 is provided to cooperate with the cam rim 13formed in similar manner to that of Figures 1 and 2. The operation ofthe device of Figure 3 is similar to that of Figures 1 and 2 but inplace of the rocking or pivotal motion imparted to the knife holder IIIby the operation of the cam against the follower in Figures 1 and 2, theoperation of the cam against the follower in Figure 3 causes sliding orreciprocatory motion of the knife support III.

In Figures 4 and 5 a; modification is shown in which in place of havinga cam rim l8 extending outwardly from the periphery of the disk 2 forthe desired portion of the circumference thereof, a portion of the diskperiphery itself serves as a cam, a complementary portion 25 being cutaway so that when the follower l1 spring 15 or 23, the knife comes intocontact with the periphery of the disk as in the preceding embodiments.

Figure 6 shows a modification of the invention applied to the type ofcutter shown in Blaschke 2,182,193. In this cutter, the filamentary towis fed downwardly through the opening 26 in a stationary shear member 21whose lower surface in proximity to the opening serves crank leversopposite to the arms carrying the knives may be pressed outwardly fromthe shaft 3| by suitable springs 32 hearing against the shaft and housedin recesses within the rotary member or hub 30. As so far described, thecut- -ter is no different than that shown in the patent .are eachprovided with a follower, preferably,

in a form of a roller which is adapted to cooperate with the cam ring33. In this manner, as

the shaft rotates the rotary member carrying the knives 28, ,the camring 33 on the stationary shear member forces the followers 34downwardly, thereby keeping the knives out of contact, until theyapproach the opening 26 in the shear member 21 through which thefilamentary tow is presented for cutting in which position, by-virtue ofthe dwell in the cam ring, the springs 32 are allowed to act to forcethe knives as into contact with the shear member 21. In this embodiment,one or more knives may be carried by the rotary member 30 and when aplurality of knives are 3 carried thereby, the cam ring 33 may be soconenters the cutaway portion under the action of structed as to allowone of the knives to be in contact with the shear member 21 throughoutoperation. This may-be done whether the knives are equidistantly orotherwise spaced about the rotary member 30; Where they are not soequidistantly spaced, the stationary shear member 21 may be provided onits under surface with a plurality of concentrically offset cam ringsand each of the bell crank levers may be provided with a followeradapted to follow only one of the cam rings analogous to the systemdescribed above with respect to Figures 1 and 2. It is to be understoodthat the stationary shear member 21 may be provided with more than oneopening through which tows may be introduced in which case a pluralityof tows'may be cut simultaneously, one tow being cut at each of theopenings.

The embodiments illustrated in Figures 1 to 5 may be applied to amodification in which the knife or knives 8 instead of being stationaryare caused to rotate with their cam followers I1 about the disk 2carrying the cam 18. For example, the invention may be applied to theform of cutter shown in Lodge U. S. Patent 2,278,662.

While preferred embodiments of the invention havebeen disclosed, thedescription is intended to be illustrative only and it is to beunderstood that changes and variations may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined bythe appendedclaims.

I claim: 4 I

1. In a cutting device comprising a, cutting member, a shear memberhaving at least one portion adapted to serve as a cutting base incooperation with the cutting member and having at least one portion notso adapted, means for imparting continuous motion to one only of themembers relative to the other to effect cyclical periods ofjuxtaposition of the non-cutting portion of the shear member with to thecutting member. 2. In a cutting device comprising a cutting member, ashear member having at least one portion adapted to serve as a cuttingbase in cooperation with the cutting member and having at least oneportion not soadapted, means for imcontinuous motion to one only of themembers relative to the other to effect cyclical juxtaposition of thecutting and non-cutting portions of the shear member with-respect.to thecutting member to eifect intermittent cutting,

' the combination therewith of cam means for separating the cuttingmember from contact with cooperation with the cutting member and havingat least one portion not so adapted, and means for imparting continuousmotion to one of the members relative to the other to efiect cyclicaljuxtaposition of the cutting and non-cutting portions of the shearmember with respect to the cutting member to eflect intermittentcutting, the"combination'therewith of a cam follower on 'thaicuttingmember and of cam 'means on said shear member arranged to separate thecutting member from contact with said shear member during asubstantialpart of the periodof juxtaposition of the non-cuttingportionofthe shear member with respect to the cutting member.

4; In a device for cutting-a filamentary bundle to discontinuouslengths, a rotatable shear member arranged to discharge the filamentarybundle outwardly from its axis, means for rotating the member, at leastone knife arranged to cooperate separating the knife from contact withthe shear member during a substantial part of the period interveningbetween successive cuttings.

5. In a device ior cutting a filamentary bundle to discontinuouslengths, a rotatable shear member arranged to discharge the filamentarybundle asserts outwardly from its axis, means for rotating the member,at least one knife arranged to cooperate with the shear member to cutthe outwardly extending bundle intermittently, a cam on the 5 afollower, the cam an follower belngarranged to take the kmfe out ofcontact with the shear member during a substantial part of the periodintervening between successive cuttings.

one knife arranged about the periphery of the disk to cooperate with theopening of theaxai channel in the disk to'cut the outwardly extend- Ywing bundle intermittently, a cam on the disk, a

support for the knife carrying a follower, the 1 2o cam and the followerbeing arranged to takethe knife out of contact with the disk during asubstantial part of the period intervening between successive cuttings.

7. In a device for cutting a filamentary bundle to discontinuouslengths, a stationary shearber having an opening, a support carrying aknife for cooperating with the shear member tosever q bundle extendingthrough said opening-means so for. rotating said support-with respect tothe with the shear member to cut the outwardly extending bundleintermittently, and means for shear member toefiect intermittentcutting, a

cam on the sear member, a support for the knife,

carrying a follower, the cam and foil er being arranged 'to taketheknife out of contact with the shear member durng a substantial partoi the "period intervening between successive cuttings.

cant-a.

shear member, a support for the knife carrying 6. In a device forcutting a filamentary bundle to discontinuous lengths, a disk having anaxial channel for receiving the bundle connected to a radial channel forfeeding the bundle outwardly therefrom, means for rotating the disk, atleast for cutting a filamentary bundle v l to discontinuous lengths, astationary shear mem-

